


Inaba's Worst-Kept Secret

by KlavierWrites



Category: Persona 4, Persona 5
Genre: Akira lives in Inaba, Canon names? I don't know her, M/M, Post-Canon, Small Towns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-06-10 13:52:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15292929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KlavierWrites/pseuds/KlavierWrites
Summary: Yosuke Hanamura is kind of loud, and he never shuts up about his fiancé, but unlike the rest of the judgemental town of Inaba, he's still up for being Akira's friend.





	1. Yosuke

After a year in Tokyo, Inaba was stifling. It wasn’t just that Akira was miles away from his friends and that his mother was breathing down his neck again, there just wasn’t anything to _do_ in his hometown. His only choices after school were to hang around the main street, which was practically deserted, or to kill time in Junes.

He could always go home, of course, but his relationship with his parents had deteriorated so badly during his time away that being in the house was awkward. His mother worked at home, and had a knack for being both overbearing and disinterested all at once.

So, Junes. Before his year in Tokyo, he'd had a part-time job in the department store that had sent half the shops in Inaba out of business. His parents, Inaba natives, had been scandalised, but couldn’t say anything because it was really the only logical place for a high schooler to pick up work. If Akira was being honest, his parents’ disapproval had been a bonus.

Junes looked the same no matter where you went, but there was something nostalgic about being back in the Inaba branch. The jingle that played on a loop had driven him mad when he'd worked there, but now he found himself humming along as he meandered through the shelves. He’d finally persuaded his mother to let him cook the evening meal. She hadn’t trusted him at first, since he’d never shown any interest in cooking before he’d gone to Tokyo, but apparently, his stories about working at Leblanc had worn her down because here he was, picking up the ingredients for Sojiro’s curry.

All he had left to do was pick up the spices, but for the life of him he couldn’t find the right aisle. After wondering about for a few minutes, he gave up, and looked around for the familiar Junes apron of a staff member he could ask.

He spotted one pretty quickly: a man with caramel-coloured hair and a pair of headphones around his neck was kneeling down, stacking one of the lower shelves. He waited for the man to finish, intending to get his attention when he was done, but then the man turned his head and Akira recognised him.

“Oh,” said Akira, and the employee looked up at him, “It’s Yosuke, right?”

Yosuke Hanamura had been his shift manager when he’d worked at Junes. He hadn’t realised he’d still be around.

He could tell the other man took a moment to place him, but when he did he broke into a grin and stood up, wiping his hands on his apron. “Akira Kurusu!” he said, sounding delighted. “I thought I might bump into you! I'd ask how you've been, but the rumour mill in Inaba is as active as ever, and I already know you've been cleared of those assault charges."

Bizarrely, he winked at him. The story of his court case, year away and eventual clearance of all charges was common knowledge at Yasogami High, but Akira hadn’t realised that even the adults of Inaba had been gossiping about him. Well, if you could call Yosuke an adult. The guy was in his early twenties, and mostly he slacked off in the breakroom and complained loudly about customers.

“I didn’t know I was such a hot topic,” said Akira.

“Don’t look so worried,” said Yosuke, “Nothing happens in this town, so everything is big news. Like, people talk every time Rise - that's Risette – visits, and she literally lived here for years.”

Akira highly doubted that Yosuke had ever said two words to Rise Kujikawa, but he remembered that Yosuke was the type to namedrop and didn’t bother to call him on it. One time, the dude had sworn up and down he was on first-name terms with every member of the idol group Kanamin Kitchen.

"Right," said Akira, for lack of anything better to say, "well, I should get back to shopping."

"My break's in ten," said Yosuke, fishing his phone out of the pocket of his jeans to check (apparently, the rule about phones on the shop floor didn’t apply to him), "want to meet in the food court to catch up?"

Akira gave Yosuke a look-over, wondering if there was an ulterior motive at play. Yosuke was loud and kind of annoying, but Akira couldn’t remember him ever being anything but nice to him. They hadn’t been close, but they were friends in the way you’re friends with anyone you spend hours stacking shelves beside. 

"Yeah, sure," he said, "just let me pay for this."

If there was one thing he'd learned in the city, it was not to turn down an offer of friendship. (And to fight shadows, but that wasn’t relevant right now.) He had nobody he was close to in Inaba and Ryuji wasn’t visiting for another week. It couldn’t hurt to hang out with his old co-worker.

He paid for his stuff – he’d eventually remembered to actually ask Yosuke where the spice aisle was –  and by the time he made it to the food court Yosuke was already pulling up a chair, two Dr Salt NEOs in front of him.

“Wasn’t sure what you wanted,” he said, gesturing towards the drinks as Akira sat down.

“This is fine,” said Akira, pulling a can towards him. “Want me to pay you back?”

Yosuke waved a hand in a gesture that apparently meant ‘don’t bother.’ “Let’s call it a welcome back present.”

"Thanks,” said Akira. “So, uh, how have you been?”

“Good,” said Yosuke, “I got engaged.”

That threw Akira for a moment, because it was hard to imagine someone like Yosuke settling down, but he had been in a serious relationship back when Akira had worked with him. He’d mentioned his girlfriend a lot, but Akira couldn’t remember her name.

“Oh!” he said, “Congratulations!”

Yosuke rubbed the back of his neck. “Thanks,” he said, “don’t know when we’ll be able to actually tie the knot, but it’s just nice to know we both want to, you know?”

Akira nodded, even though he didn’t really get it. Weddings were probably expensive, right? Maybe Yosuke couldn’t afford it on a Junes salary.

“How about you, though?” said Yosuke, “You were in Tokyo, right?”

“Yeah,” he said, “Yongenyaga.”  

“Man, I miss living in a city,” said Yosuke, “what was it like?”

“Loud,” said Akira, “busy. Inaba feels really quiet now.”

Yosuke sucked in air through his teeth. “You mean ‘boring’, right? My parents moved me here when I was in high school, and I hated it. Don’t regret it, of course, since otherwise I’d never have met my partner, but still. It’s hardly an exciting place to be a teenager.”

Akira nodded. “My friends back in Tokyo literally didn’t believe me when I told them the nearest coffee shop was in Okina.”

Yosuke laughed. “Figures you’d make the kind of friends who worry about the nearest coffee shops. I always knew you were a hipster.”

He felt a strange need to defend his image. “The guy I was staying with runs a cafe,” he explained, “and my friend Haru’s trying to open a chain of them.”

Yosuke looked impressed. “What, while they’re still in high school?”

“She just graduated,” he said, “her dad ran a big food corporation before he died, and she’s inherited it.”

Yosuke whistled. “Impressive. Make any other fancy city friends?”

Akira wasn’t normally one for talking about himself, but he practically jumped at the opportunity to talk about the members of the Phantom Thieves. His parents’ interest in his Tokyo friends had been limited to confusion about why he arrived outside their house in a van full of teenagers, and not at the train station like he was meant to. They’d sat and listened as he’d named them all, taken a little interest in Makoto and Haru, both of whom they seemed to decide must be good influences on him, and then lost interest when they realised he wasn’t dating either of them. Ryuji was so low on their radar that he’d had to re-explain who he was when asking if he could come and visit for Golden Week.

Yosuke, on the other hand, listened with genuine interest as Akira briefly described his friendship group, then laughed when he was done.

“So, let me get this straight: you’re friends with an artist, the new head of a major corporation, and a model, among others?”

“Uh,” he said, because the rather conspicuous occupations of the Phantom Thieves had been part of what had gotten them discovered, and he didn’t much like it being pointed out, “we met through school?”

Yosuke just laughed harder at that. “I was part of a huge friendship group like that when I was at Yasogami,” he said, looking nostalgic, “it included Risette and the Detective Prince.”

“The Detective Prince?” Akira repeated, thinking of Akechi.

“The original, of course,” said Yosuke, “Not that high schooler who went missing.”

Nausea bubbled in Akira’s stomach at the mention Akechi’s death, but he swallowed it down. Yosuke had no way of knowing they’d known each other. “You were friends with Naoto Shirogane?” he asked instead. He knew Shirogane had worked in Inaba for a bit, his mum liked to mention it whenever she showed up on the news.

“Still am,” said Yosuke proudly. “Though she’d probably hate me for using the Detective Prince moniker, now I think about it.” 

“Was your partner part of that friendship group as well?” asked Akira.

“Of course,” said Yosuke, grinning. “Why? Are you dating one of those friends you mentioned?”

“No.”

“But you want to be?”

 Akira hated how his mind immediately went to Ryuji. “No,” he said again, his voice breaking.

You don’t sound too sure there, dude,” said Yosuke. “Which one? Is it coffee shop girl?”

“No, it’s not her,” he said.

“There is someone, then. The model? Or the smart one you said was school council president?”

Akira shook his head, and Yosuke sighed dramatically.

“Come on, it’s not like I’m gunna tell them! It’s been years since I got to gossip about crushes, all my friends from school are either happily single or in long term relationships.” When Akira stayed silent, Yosuke carried on, "It’s got to be the girl with the computers, then. Didn’t you say she was younger than you?”

This. This was why Yosuke had been annoying to work with. Because he couldn’t leave anything alone. “It’s not Futaba, either,” he said firmly.

Yosuke was quiet for a long moment. Akira could practically see him checking off the friends Akira had mentioned, trying to see who he’d missed, and he wondered if he could backtrack, and say it was Haru he was into after all, before Yosuke realised there were no girls left he could be talking about. He didn’t make a decision fast enough.

“Well, I just made things awkward,” said Yosuke, “didn’t I?”

Akira stared. Yosuke didn’t sound shocked or angry at all, just kind of apologetic. “A bit,” he said, “yeah.”

“So, is it the artist or the other one? I mean, you don’t have to tell me-”

“Ryuji. The one who used to be on the track team,” said Akira. Yosuke seemed trustworthy enough, and it was kind of nice to tell someone other than Morgana, who mostly just complained that he had to be into Ryuji of all people. “It’s completely doomed, though, since he’s definitely straight.”

“I get it,” said Yosuke, even though there was no way that was true.

 Akira was sure he was bright red. “Could you maybe not tell anyone? And never mention this, like, ever again?”

“Sure, kid. Secret’s safe with me. But are you sure you don’t want my help? Like, to talk stuff over?”

“No offence, but I don’t see how you could be helpful,” said Akira, “it’s kind of something you don’t get unless you’ve been through it.”

It wasn’t a joke, but Yosuke laughed anyway. “If you say so.” Then he paused for a moment, looking thoughtful.  “Hey, are you free to tomorrow? I want you to meet my partner.”

Akira, confused by the topic shift, nodded.

“Great! I think you two would get along. Same time, same place?”

 

-

 

He headed to Junes straight after school the following day, planning on hanging around in the food court until he was due to meet Yosuke and his girlfriend, but he’d barely been sitting down half an hour when a polite cough drew his attention from the game he’d been playing on his phone.

“Sorry for interrupting, but are you Akira Kurusu?”

The man who interrupted him looked like he was in his twenties, in a grey polo-shirt and sporting a silver bowl cut that absolutely shouldn’t have worked but kind of did anyway.

“Yeah,” said Akira.

“Mind if I sit?”

Akira shrugged, and the man sat down opposite him. “I’m Souji Seta,” he said, as though this made his presence any clearer. When Akira simply raised his eyebrows, he laughed.

“Sorry, I don’t know how much Yosuke told you. I’m his fiancé – he’ll be here in a minute, but I saw you already sitting here and thought I’d introduce myself.”

Akira stared. “ _You’re_ Yosuke’s fiancé?” He didn’t mean to sound so disbelieving, but Souji was kind of hot and, well, _male._

Souji opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment Yosuke bounded up to the table, apron still on and a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Did I miss his reaction?” he asked Souji, pulling off his apron as he spoke.

Wordlessly, Souji gestured to Akira, who was still trying to wrap his head around the idea that the girlfriend Yosuke was always going on about when they were working together had been a boyfriend the whole time. Apparently, his expression met Yosuke’s expectations, because his grin only grew.

“Oh man,” said Yosuke, sitting down, “I told you he’d be interested to meet you.”

Souji looked disapproving. “You didn’t tell him I was a man, did you?”

“Nope,” said Yosuke. He grinned at Akira. “Sorry, kid. Me and Souji are Inaba’s worst kept secret, so when I realised you didn’t know I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see your reaction.”

Akira knew his mask of cool indifference had been cracked, but he tried to school his features back into something neutral. “It’s lovely to meet you, Seta-san.”

“Call him Souji,” said Yosuke. Akira glanced at Souji, who nodded.

“I’m sorry for startling you,” he said, “I genuinely thought Yosuke had explained the situation.”

“It’s no problem,” said Akira.

Yosuke leaned across the table. “So, I’ve told Souji all about this guy you’re in love with-”

“I’m not in _love_ with him,” interrupted Akira.

“-and about how you don’t know if he’s into guys,” said Yosuke, as though he hadn’t spoken.

“I _know_ he’s not into guys.”

“Right,” said Yosuke. “Which is why talking to Souji would be helpful. Since he has a lot of experience with being into straight guys.” He nudged Souji with his elbow as he said it, and Souji rolled his eyes.

“I’m not sure you count,” he said evenly.

“I do too! I _thought_ I was straight when I met you, didn’t I?”

No wonder these two were Inaba’s worst kept secret, if Yosuke insisted on speaking so loudly in a crowded food court.

“I suppose,” said Souji, looking unconvinced.

“Great!” said Yosuke, pushing out his chair. “Well, I’m technically not even on break right now, so I’ll be off. Have a nice chat! Souji, tell me how it goes.”

And with that, Yosuke got up and left, leaving Akira and Souji at the table alone.

There was a long moment of quiet. Akira didn’t quite know what to say. “So how long have you two been dating?” Is what he settled on.

“A few years,” he said, “we got together after our third year of high school.”

“Yosuke says you met at school?”

“We did,” said Souji, “I moved here for a year in second year, and we became quite close. But then I moved away again because my parents wanted me to finish my education at the school where they lived.”

“Same,” said Akira.

Souji nodded. Akira couldn’t decide if he liked Souji or not. Unlike most people in his life, he didn’t seem to need to fill silence with words - they were similar, in that respect. Funny that a quiet guy like him had ended up with someone as bold and as loud as Yosuke.

Eventually, Souji spoke. “You’re welcome to talk about the person you like, you know. Yosuke’s right, I do know a bit about what you’re going through.”

Akira shrugged. “He’s kind of like Yosuke, honestly. Loud, a little goofy. Although unlike Yosuke, he’s completely girl crazy.”

“No,” said Souji, “That still sounds like Yosuke when we were in high school.”

“No, I’m talking ogling-our-friends levels of girl-orientated. He’s usually one comment away from getting slapped.”

“Still sounds like Yosuke. And we were friends with Risette, so you can imagine what that was like.”

Akira frowned. “So, no offense, but how did he end up with you?”

“According to him, he played up his straightness around me because he was freaked out about how he felt.”

For a moment, Akira let himself hope. “How did you two get together?”

“I was, uh, dating someone else at the time. And Yosuke got jealous.”

“And he confessed?”

To his surprise, Souji blushed. “No. I shouted at him for being rude to by boyfriend because he was jealous, and he went white as a sheet and denied it. So then I said it was either that or he was still the homophobic dick he was in school, in which case we shouldn’t be friends anymore.”

“And what did he say?”

Souji ducked his head. “Not a lot, because he basically jumped me as soon as I finished speaking.”

That was… well, it wasn’t exactly romantic, but it was certainly something. “How did you know he was jealous?”

“I didn’t,” said Souji, “but by that point, I was pretty sure he was in the closet. I figure the only men who try that hard to make damn sure you know they like women are the ones who aren’t sure if they do.”

Akira thought about how Ryuji acted around the girls in his group, and how weird he’d been when Yusuke had come out to them. Not exactly unsupportive, but really quiet and awkward. He’d been tetchy for days afterwards, and his comments about Ann’s appearance had got pointed enough she’d yelled at him.

“You might have a point,” said Akira, “maybe.”

“Has Ryuji ever been outright homophobic?”

There had been that time in Shinjuku, and at the beach. But that hardly counted, those guys _had_ been weirdly forward. Even Akira had found them creepy.

“Not really.”

“Does he know about you?”

“No,” said Akira.

Souji hummed. “Maybe you should tell him. When I came out to Yosuke he acted really strange about it, and said a lot of thoughtless stuff, but he did try, you know?”

Akira barely resisted the urge to drop his head on the table. “I want to. But I’ve never told anyone but you two and Morgana.”

“Morgana?”

“My- er. Friend. Well, he’s a cat.”

“You have a cat?” said Souji eagerly.

“Yes?”

“Can I meet him?”

Akira hesitated. Morgana hadn’t been coming to school with him since they arrived in Inaba. There wasn’t enough room in the desks and anyway, Morgana said he didn’t need to go everywhere with him now he didn’t need to watch his back.

“I guess,” he said, “I haven’t got him with me now, though.”

Souji looked almost comically disappointed. “Have you got any pictures of him?”

Akira pulled out his phone until he found a group shot of the Phantom Thieves, Morgana in Haru’s arms. “Here,” he said, zooming in and passing the phone to Souji.

Souji made appropriate cooing noises over Morgana, and then zoomed out of the photo. “These are your friends, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Which one is Ryuji?”

Akira leaned across the table to point him out. The photo had been taken at Destiny Land, and Ryuji’s wearing mouse ears, his arm slung around Akira’s shoulder. It was one of his favourite photos.

“You two look really close.”

Akira took his phone back, feeling self-conscious. “We are.”

Souji just hummed in acknowledgement, fishing his phone out of his pocket. “Sorry,” he said, “I’ve got a text.”

Akira stares at the photo a little longer while Souji reads his messages, looking up when Souji starts talking again. “That was Yosuke,” he says, “telling me to ask you over for dinner.”

“Dinner?” Akira repeated. Yosuke didn’t seem like the type to cook. Or to invite people over to eat that cooking.

Souji seemed to understand the questioning look. “We don’t have a lot of non-straight friends who still live in Inaba,” he says, by way of explanation, “I think he’s a bit excited to take you under his wing.”

“Right,” said Akira. He wasn’t exactly in the position to turn down potential friends from Inaba either.

“Does Golden Week work?”

Akira thought about it. He wanted to say no, because Ryuji would be visiting. But then, Ryuji had said he wanted to meet Akira’s Inaba friends, and God knows he didn’t really have any school friends he could introduce them to. What did he have to lose?

“Sure,” he said, “but can I bring a plus one?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gaaah ok this has been sitting on my computer for months unfinished and I thought if I uploaded it + people were interested, I'd probably have the motivation to actually get it finished. I love P4/P5 cast interacting, and I love fics where Akira's from Inaba, but I haven't really seen many that do both, which is why this exists.


	2. Nanako

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gaah I honestly thought I'd abandoned this fic but instead, here I am. Since I wrote the first chapter I have...  
> a) started an incredibly intense postgraduate training course that is sucking up all my free time  
> b) had various mental health things to deal with  
> c) kinda moved on from Persona and become a BTS stan. 
> 
> But despite all that, I've decided I'm not giving up on this fic! So here's a short (and slightly rushed) second chapter.

 

Morgana was asleep on the bed when Akira got in, but he awoke with a start as Akira slammed the door behind him.

“What have you got against waking me up gently?” he whined.

“What, like you do for me every morning?”

Morgana stretched his front legs lazily. “I’m doing you a service, you always sleep in otherwise.”

That was, technically, true. But being woken up to yowling and cat hair up his nose never really got any less irritating. “I woke you up for a reason,” he lied, “I’ve got good news.”

“Go on, then,” said Morgana, sitting up, his tail flicking.

“I’m not the only gay in the village,” said Akira, shrugging off his school jacket and sitting down at his desk, “Yosuke’s partner’s a guy.”

Morgana looked vaguely put out. “Oh,” he said, slumping back down again, “I thought it’d be something interesting.”

Morgana’s dismissiveness did very little to dampen Akira’s good mood. The invite to Yosuke and Souji's house was the first real social event he'd have since returning to Inaba, and knowing he wasn't literally the only LGBT person for miles around was comforting. He felt far less isolated already.  

His mum even noticed his high spirits, raising her eyebrows at him over dinner and asking if anything was the matter.

"Nothing," he said, "just had a good day."

Her eyebrows raised, if possible, even higher, disappearing into the messy curls on her forehead.  "Want to elaborate on that?"

Akira blamed this rare streak of actual interest in his life on his dad being home late. Clearly, his mother needed something to entertain her if she couldn't swap dull barbs with her husband. "Remember my old manager at Junes, Hanamura-san? I met up with him today."

His mother's eyebrows dropped back down again, and she frowned slightly. "Oh," she said, "You're friends with the Junes boy?"

"Yeah," he said. His mother had been calling Yosuke that for years. "I saw him by accident the other day and we got talking, and we decided to meet up again so he could introduce me to his partner.”

“He’s seeing Dojima’s boy, isn’t he?”

Akira was so taken aback that his mother was apparently one of the people in on that poorly-kept secret that he just nodded, and then the name actually registered. “Um, he said his name was Seta-san?”

His mother waved her hand, “Well Dojima-san is his uncle,” she said, “so I suppose he can’t be blamed for how Seta-san has turned out. I wouldn’t make a habit of spending time with them, if I were you.”

Having effectively killed the conversation by mentioning the existence of non-straight people, Akira figured it was safe to pull his phone out under the table.

He had a message from Futaba, asking him if he enjoyed his trip to Junes. He hadn't told her he was going, so either she just guessed (since there wasn’t really a whole lot else to do) or she was tracking his GPS again. Probably the latter. He sent her a middle finger emoji, which was pretty standard for how they tended to interact with each other, and swapped to his ongoing conversation with Ryuji. He was surprised to see he had a new message, he hadn't seen it come in.

_> do you think yusuke would notice if i stole some of his spray paints for street art? _

Akira grinned. _Don't get arrested_ , he typed back, _you can’t go to prison, you'll die._

The response came pretty quickly. Ryuji was clearly bored.

_> uh excuse me you managed fine in juvie but i'd die?? _

_> > What are u talking about I joined like six gangs and killed a guard. Did I not show you my prison tattoos?_

He shovelled some food into his mouth then checked for a response.

_> oh hahaha._

_> akira? _

_> dude did you seriously get tattoos in prison???_

Akira considered saying yes just to screw with him, but he could practically picture Ryuji's panicked face.

>> _Nah. I totally would have if someone offered, though._

His mum spotted him texting then, and he was forced to stop checking his phone until dinner was over and he was allowed to retreat back to the safety of his bedroom. He threw himself onto his bed, tucking an arm behind his head, and checked his messages again.

Ryuji's response almost made him choke on his spit.

_> i’m glad you didn't. ur too pretty for a stick-and-poke. _

Akira felt a blush rise in his cheeks.

>> _You think?_

_> yeah man. you’re all unblemished and pale and shit, like an idol or something. be a shame to ruin that, u know??_

This was too much. Maybe Souji was onto something, or maybe Ruyji recently become very comfortable in his heterosexuality. Not trusting himself to respond with words, he sent back exclamation marks and a blushing emoji.

Morgana jumped onto the bed. "Is that the Phantom Thieves group chat?" he asked, making himself comfortable on the pillow next to Akira and accidentally swatting his face with his tail in the process.

"No, just texting Ryuji."

Morgana craned his neck to read the messages, then flicked him with his tail, on purpose this time. "You're a disaster."

Akira groaned, dropping his phone onto the bed. "I know."

-

. "Excuse me," said a voice. Akira looked up. It was lunch, and he was loitering in the 3rd year hallway, checking his phone. A girl tinier even than Futaba was stood in front of him. "Are you Akira Kurusu?"

He nodded, a little confused as to why someone was actually approaching him. "How can I help you?"

"My big brother told me to tell you to get to his and Yosuke-nii's for seven. Is that ok?"

He stared at her. "You're Souji's sister?"

She didn't look a whole lot like him. Similar face shape, he guessed, but she had wide brown eyes and brunette hair. "I'm his cousin, technically," she said. "Nanako Dojima, at your service." She did a little curtsy, and Akira noted idly that Haru would probably love her.

"Oh," he said, "Well, tell him that's fine with me."

Nanako leaned towards him a little conspiratorially, though she had to get up on tiptoes to do so. "I think he probably just wanted me to come and talk to you. Yosuke-nii says you don't have any friends in Inaba."

Akira shrugged, a little embarrassed. "I suppose not."

Nanako beamed. "That's ok! I know big brother used to find it hard it hard to make friends when he lived in the city. Me and Teddie will be your friends, if you like."

Akira was pretty sure this girl had a future as an idol before her, because she was too cute to be real. "And Teddie is...?"

"My best friend," she said, "he says he's a bear, but really he's a boy with blonde hair. But he doesn't go to school here."

Akira was only 60% sure this girl wasn't talking about an actual stuffed animal, but he offered to exchange numbers anyway. A confidant was a confidant, and she was clearly nice enough. "Awesome!" she said, pulling out a phone adorned with multiple cutesy keychains and handing it to him to type in his number.

Nanako vanished again after making Akira promise to eat lunch with her soon, and seconds later Futaba texted him a line of eye emojis.

> _Is that a girl’s number I see????_

Akira rolled his eyes.

_> > She’s a friend of a friend. _

> _She’s adorable. Didn’t know you were a cradle robber, tho :/_

Akira made a mental note to change his privacy settings, and maybe delete all social media.

-

The day Ryuji was due to arrive Akira was up and dressed by six am. He was filled with the kind of nervous energy that used to plague him back in Tokyo, but unlike last year, he couldn’t do pull ups or wonder the back streets of Yongenyaga to distract himself. Instead, he tided his room.

Morgana woke up when he attempted to make his bed, and spent a good few minutes laughing at him. “This is tragic,” he said, jumping off to watch Akira struggle with the duvet, “Ryuji’s seen the attic, he knows how you live.”

“I’m not doing this because Ryuji’s visiting,” he lied. Morgana just laughed at him some more.

Ryuji’s train wasn’t due in until noon, so after tidying both his room and the kitchen, and absolutely failing to get the vacuum to work, his mother chivvied him out of the door, exasperated.

“Do something actually useful,” she said, shoving a shopping list into his hands, “And don’t buy it all at Junes,” she added.

Akira wondered up the abandoned high street first, staring at his mother’s list. He picked up tofu and a few other things on the list, and was just about to give up and go to Junes for the rest when he spotted a familiar face. “Nanako-chan?”

“Oh! It’s you!” said Nanako. She was sitting on the step outside the textile shop with a blonde boy Akira realised must be Teddie. “What are you up to?”

Akira raised his mother’s shopping list. “Headed to Junes.”

“Wait a sec, I’ll come with,” she said, standing up and brushing herself off. She wasn’t wearing her school uniform today, and her casual clothes some made her look even younger. He doubted there were many teenage girls who could pull off a pink pinafore.

She waved goodbye to maybe-Teddie and jogged up to him. A pointed cough from inside his bag reminded Akira he’d bought Morgana with him. “Oh,” he said, “Nanako, this is Morgana, my cat.”

On cue, Morgana stuck his head out of the bag. Nanako looked delighted. “Oh, he’s beautiful! Has Souji met him yet?”

Nanako was clearly just as taken with cats as her cousin, because she talked more to (or rather _at_ ) Morgana than to Akira as they walked to the department store. Morgana, who’d been rather starved for pretty girls cooing over him since he’d followed Akira to Inaba, seemed to be enjoying the attention.

Eventually, though, they reached Junes and Morgana had to hide in Akira’s bag again lest they risk being thrown out.

It turned out that with Nanako in tow, there was no need for Akira to flag down any members of staff to find things. Nanako knew the Inaba branch of Junes so well it was honestly a little disconcerting. She took his mother’s shopping list from him and practically stormed through the store, never showing any hesitance and always directing him to exactly the right thing. And she did it all while humming along to the Junes theme.

Akira, a little dazed, followed her. “Do you work here or something?” he asked once they were in line for the cashier.

“Nope,” she said, “Just a big fan.”

“…Of Junes.”

“Yeah, I love it! I have since I was a little kid. I can do the dance and everything.”

Akira had no idea what she meant by that, but he wasn’t about to ask lest she started dancing there and then. There was something about Nanako that made him sure it was a possibility.

By the time he’d paid and they were walking back, he felt like he’d made an actual friend his age. It was a nice feeling, and he waved goodbye to Nanako feeling light and happy. The moment she’d gone, however, his anxiety returned.

Ryuji would be arriving soon.


End file.
